4 ways to reset your focus in under 10 minutes

Audio more your jam? Listen to this post as a podcast episode ⬇️

Something that's always bothered me about all the productivity content out there: the powers that be (whoever they are) have made it so much about what we're LACKING. Where we're FAILING.

Take a shot (hey, it’s 5pm somewhere) for every time you've ever said to yourself:

'I'm so easily distracted'

'I just can't focus like I used to'

'I'm such a procrastinator'

'I'm so behind'

'I'm just addicted to cheese' (it’s number 5 for me)

Okay, maybe put the shot glass down.

Notice something?

When it comes to how productive we are, we SO often define and measure our capabilities using metrics that have just been, well, frankly, MADE UP. Probably by old white dudes in business suits.

Before we can start to reset our focus, we *have* to look at what’s going on behind why we even want to focus in the first place.

Why can’t I focus?

There are three problems with most of the content we see out there these days around managing our focus:

1. We measure value by time spent, which, considering the time we have available is always fixed, leaves us wide open for never feeling like we've done enough

2. We define productivity as our ability to sit at a desk for 8 hours and work through a list of tasks - honestly, who came up with this? (see old white dudes above)

3. We think we can't focus because there's *something wrong with us* or we're not trying hard enough

I have an alternative truth for you.

Maybe you're just trying to fit your beautifully hexagonal spirit (your capacity to create, make or do) into a boring round hole (system) that was never designed to support your focus in the first place.

Maybe your capacity to focus really is something that comes from within you (and doesn’t have to be cultivated by restrictive schedules, the latest new planning method, or working harder).

The real reason you’re struggling to focus

We have never been more distracted, more overloaded with information and more stimulated than we are right now. Our brains are dealing with literal fire hoses of information on a minute by minute basis, and sometimes, it can feel like we’re powerless to stop it.

We’re flooded with productivity content around discipline, consistency, structure, routine and perfectly planned days that are adhered to down to the minute. We’d be forgiven for feeling like we’re missing something when we can’t magically leap straight from school drop-off into deep, focussed work.

But this is the problem with trying to squeeze the output potential of our magnificent human brains into tiny colour coded time blocks on our calendars:

We’re not OpenAI. We’re human. Our brains have one job all day, every day.

To keep us safe and alive.

And intense focus is something that, back in our wildebeest era, we used to call on when required depending on a few factors - urgency, specificity, capacity.

Intense focus requires energy. And intense focus was never meant to be sustained for 8 hours a day, sitting at a desk with very limited movement or external stimulation. (Endless smartphone pickups, anyone?)

So how can we help support our brains to cultivate focus in our post-wildebeest, mass-information era?

*naming of classification of eras absolutely science based

Here are four ways to reset your focus and support your brain in under 10 minutes - and you can implement these every single day.

1. Take yourself out of your usual environment

If you’re really struggling with inspiration, energy, or motivation - the standard bro-productivity approach would have you chained to your desk, fighting hard against the urge to pillage the snack collection in your pantry and idly watching YouTube shorts until the thing you need to do is DONE.

No matter how you feel while you’re doing it, or what the final result looks like.

Honestly, since WHEN did it become a thing that humans produce their best work sitting down, at a desk, in front of a backlit screen for hours on end?

Yeah, madness right.

Take yourself out of your usual work environment and move somewhere else - and ignore every rule you’ve ever been conditioned with when it comes to productivity. Busy cafe? Studious library? Sunlit park? Chatty coworking space? Your backyard? Your bed? Move elsewhere and see what this brings up for you.

I LOVE spending an hour or two writing from the cafe close to my house, or building landing pages from my backyard. Experiment with what works for you. Switch it up. Your brain will love the fresh environment and you might just get one or two new ideas, a fresh perspective, or a burst of motivation.

2. Swap looking outward with daydreaming inward

Most of us have been conditioned to look outward to solve problems - we might research before we write an article, watch a YouTube video before we edit a webpage, check other social accounts to get inspo for our own.

This isn’t necessarily a problem. When it comes to cultivating your focus, tune in to how things like scrolling Instagram, watching videos or checking your emails leave you feeling. If these are your go-to activities before you start a task, try swapping them for 5-10 minutes of meditation (you don’t have to know what you’re doing – you can literally sit in silence and take deep breaths for 5 minutes). See how you feel.

Did daydreaming or meditating inspire some new ideas? Fresh thoughts? A new way to tackle that problem you’ve been dealing with? Starting out with less dopamine (aka less stimulation) helps support your brain in maintaining focus and energy for more sustained periods of time.

3. Identify and move your distractibles

IF YOU ONLY DO ONE THING, GANG…

Make it physically easier for your brain. Support, nurture and love that big ole’ brain of yours.

When it comes to distractions and your brain, don’t be a hero. Make a list of things you KNOW easily distract you. Next, make them difficult to access.

If your distractibles - aka, your vices or things that you know easily pull your attention away - are easy to access, you’ll consume a huge amount of energy just trying to resist the urge to pick up, look at or interact with these things. Even if the interruptions are quick - each interruption becomes like a series of little ice picks - chip, chip, chippin’ away at that focus.

Put your phone in another room. Use website blockers. Install news feed blockers on your social media accounts. Lock your fridge (okay, don’t get extreme). SAVE YOURSELVES.

4. Time block based on focus windows

But don’t get obsessive about it.

Allocate specific time slots for focused work, based on when you KNOW you’re most likely to be able to concentrate. If you know you’re always exhausted after putting the kids to bed, don’t allocate your self a work time block when you know you’re going to be fighting the urge to snooze.

Switching my calendar from a rigid, 8-hour a day, fill-all-the-boxes time blocking process to a focus-based, energy supportive, flexible approach COMPLETELY changed the way I work and how I feel doing it.

Everyone’s focus triggers are different. What works for one might not work for another. These are four simple, fast and customisable techniques that you can integrate and experiment with to transform your focus and open up possibilities when it comes to the way you work (AND how long you spend working). Experiment with these techniques, tweak them, mix them up – find what works best for YOU.

I’ve created a FREE productivity energy audit worksheet in Notion specifically for solo business owner babes like you who want to stop trying to squeeze more hours out of every day and start supporting the one resource you can leverage - your energy.

Want a copy? Get it here.